Emptying system for rotary containers



June 4, 1963 F. MORETTI 3,092,579

EMPTYING SYSTEM FOR ROTARY CONTAINERS Filed Nov. 6, 1962 3 Sheets-Sheet 1 J/I. W

INVENTOR fw -o4 ATTORNEYS June 4, 1963 F. MORETTI 3,092,579

EMPTYING SYSTEM FOR ROTARY CONTAINERS Filed NOV. 6, 1962 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 J8 Fig.2

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INVENTOR BY Ml M 4' PM, ATTORNEY June 4, 1963 F. MORETTI 3,092,579

EMPTYING SYSTEM FOR ROTARY CONTAINERS Filed Nov. 6, 1962. 3 Sheets-Sheet .5

INVENTOR 3,092,579 EMPTYING SYSTEM FOR RUTARY CONTAINERS Francesco Moretti, Terni, Italy, assignor to ()fiicine Meccaniclie e Fonderie A. Bosco Societa per Azioni Filed Nov. 6, 1962, Ser. No. 235,753 Claims priority, application Italy Dec. 15, 1959 4 Claims. (Cl. 210-370) The present invention relates to centrifugal hydroextractors, particularly for use in the sugar industry.

This application is a continuation-in-part of my appli cation Serial No. 74,174, filed December 6, 1960, now abandoned.

It is common practice to use mechanical devices for emptying rotary containers of extractors, which devices mainly consist of scraping blades for removing the material to be extracted.

Said devices have serious drawbacks, particularly due to the fact that the discharge, for safety reasons, must be carried out at a very low speed, and that the containers are never perfectly cleaned by such devices.

The present invention relates to a device which removes the aforesaid drawbacks.

An object of the present invention is to provide a rotary basket for centrifugal hydroextractors, for example for use in the sugar industry, having perforated walls to the inner side of which a filter of finely perforated iron plate is applied, said basket having two equal symmetrical circular mouths, an upper charging mouth which serves for introducing the material, such as sugar solutions, to be centrifuged, and a lower discharge opening which is closed during the centrifuging operation by a movable bottom which maintains the basket in an exact vertical position so that the material is thrown against the basket walls by centrifugal force so as to obtain a uniform distribution of material during the charging of the basket, said basket also having a concentric outer jacket for collecting the liquid being separated, and two hollow side trunnions coupling the basket to a hollow body, and through which the separated liquid is led away, and means being provided for rotating the basket and for opening said movable bottom before discharging the centrifuged material.

A further object of the present invention is to provide a basket which is rotatable about its longitudinal axis, and which may be tilted from the vertical position during the centrifuging to a horizontal position during the discharging of the centrifuged material, thus allowing the automatic discharge of the centrifuged material, without employing scraping blades and the like, at high rotational speeds, thereby obtaining complete cleanliness of the rotating container.

Still another object of the invention is to provide means for performing said tilting movement.

Other and further objects and advantages will become apparent from the following specification and claims, taken together with the accompanying drawings, illustrating a preferred embodiment of the invention, and in which:

FIG. 1 is an axial sectional view of a device accord ing to the present invention, with the basket locked in a vertical position by a movable bottom;

FIG. 2 is a sectional view at right angles to FIG. 1 with the basket, which is not shown in section, in a horizontal position for discharging the centrifuged material;

FIG. 3 is a perspective view of the basket with a hollow body and with tilting means, the basket being illustrated in the vertical position; and

FIG. 4 is a perspective view similar to that of P16. 3, with the basket in the horizontal position.

steam Patented June 4, 1963 As shown in FIG. 1, the device is composed of a rotary container including an inner wall 1 and an outer jacket 6 defining a hollow collecting space between them.

The lateral wall forming the inner wall 1 is perforated along the entire axial length thereof, and secured to the inner face of said wall is a filter 2 of finely perforated iron plate. Said inner wall has a lower circular discharge mouth 5, and an upper circular charging mouth 3 at the other end of the longitudinal axis of the container from said mouth 5 for charging the material to be centrifuged. The lower mouth 5 is closed when the container is in the vertical position by a movable bottom 5.

Said outer jacket 6 has two hollow trunnions 7 rotatably mounted on a hollow body 8. Body '8 has an upper forkshaped part 12 and a lower cylindrical part 9. The rotatory movement will be transmitted to said hollow body through a belt drive 11 operated by a motor 22 mounted on an arm 21. The bottom 5a closing the lower mouth 5 of the inner wall locks said container in the vertical position during the centrifuging operation, and may be moved vertically to open and close the lower mouth 5 by a piston and cylinder unit 28 and a control lever 29 pivoted to the lower end of a vertical column 30', the upper end of the column having thereon a ball bearing 31 which is also secured to said movable bottom 50:, whereby said bottom rotates together with the container, while the shaft 30 remains stationary insofar as rotation is concerned.

As best shown in FIGS. 2-4, the tilting movement of the container is performed by two piston and cylinder units 32 disposed, together with corresponding linkages, diametrally opposite to one another on the hollow body 8. Both units 32 operate simultaneously, one by a pulling action and the other by a pushing action. Said units 32 transmit the movement to control levers 35, one end of each of which is pivoted to triangular oscillating plates 33 pivoted in turn on two projections 34 on said hollow body 8, the other ends of said levers being pivoted to said outer jacket 6 at points on the jacket spaced from said trunnions. The other end of one control lever 35 is pivoted at 36 to the jacket 6 on a plane perpendicular to the longitudinal axis of the container, while the other end of the other control lever 35 is pivoted at 37 on a vertical plane through the longitudinal axis of the container.

On the lower cylindrical part of said hollow body 8 is a downwardly projecting hollow pulley 10, said pulley 10 being operated by said belt drive 11 through a pulley 23 secured to the shaft of the motor 22. Said hollow pulley lilis mounted on ball bearings 13 on a vertical stationary hollow shaft 14, flanged at its lower end 19 and bolted to the base 15 of the assembly, and rotates with said hollow body 8 and with the container around said hollow shaft 14. The column 30 is slidable in hollow shaft 14. The assembly is covered by a casing 25 for collecting the centrifuged material discharged from the tilted container and conducting it through an annular space 26 formed by a base casing 27 (see FIG. 2). A tank 38 is placed above the upper mouth of the inner wall 1 for charging said container with the material to be centrifuged before beginning the centrifuging operation. To this purpose the lower frustoconical end 39 of the tank 38 has a gate valve 40 thereon, the opening of which permits the material to be centrifuged to be charged into said container.

In the lower portion of the outer wall of the hollow body 8 there are two openings 16 for discharging the drainage liquid into an annular collector 17 having an opening 18 in its bottom, said annular collector 17 being connected with said base casing 27 by means of three bars 20.

From the above description it is apparent that the device according to the invention allows, as compared to the devices hitherto known, the discharge of the centrifuged material at high rotation speeds, the assembly being in every instant (and in any position of the container) always symmetrical and therefore balanced.

In operation the container is placed in its vertical position as shown in FIG. 1, with the bottom 5a closing the lower discharge mouth 5 thereof. When the motor 22 runs, the rotation of its shaft will be transmitted through the motor pulley 23', belt drive 11 and pulley 19, to the hollow body 8 and then through the hollow trunnions to the container. By opening the gate valve 40, a quantity of the material to be centrifuged, e.g. a sugar solution, will be discharged from the tank 38 through the upper charging mouth 3 into the inner wall 1. During the centrifuging operation the material is thrown by the, bottom 5a against the filter 2 on the inner wall 1 to the centrifugal force and assumes the position 4 in FIG. 1, following the arrows A. t

The drainage liquid passes through the filter 2 and the inner wall into the collecting space formed between said inner wall and the outer jacket 6, discharging then through the hollow trunnions 7 into the hollow'arms 12, passing through the hollow cylinder 9, openings 16, and entering the annular collector 17, from which it may be discharged through the bottom opening 18, as indicated by arrows B in FIG. 1. At the end of the centrifuging, the rotation speed of the container is reduced, the bottom 5a is lowered by means of the piston and cylinder unit 28, linkages 29 and shaft 30, coupled one to another.

After the bottom So has been lowered, the operator turns the container over into its horizontal position as shown in FIG. 2 and accelerates the rotation speed of the container until the centrifuging speed is reached, whereby the centrifuged material will be quickly discharged by the centrifugal force through the both mouths of the con.- tainer into the casing 25 and then through the annular space 26 between the casing 27 and annular collector 17, as indicated by arrows C in FIG. 2.

After the discharging of the centrifuged material (e.g. sugar), the container is returned to its vertical position, the bottom 5a is closed and the next batch of material to be centrifuged is charged. In this way the centrifuging operation may be carried out continuously without interruption of the work for discharging the centrifuged material. The operation is simple and has obvious advantages, such as a considerable economy of the work and construction material, discharging blades, scrapers and so on, not being required.

' Although the device according to the present invention has been set forth in a preferred embodiment, it is understood that its parts may be modified and changed within the spirit and scope of the following claims.

What I claim is: V

1. A centrifugal hydroextractor, comprising a container having a longitudinal axis and having a mouth at each end of said axis, said container having an inner perforated wall and an outer jacket spaced from said inner perforated wall and defining between said inner wall and outer jacket a collecting space, two hollow trunnions on opposite sides of said outer jacket, a hollow body having'a forkshaped upper part on which said trunnions are rotatably mounted, said trunnions projecting into the said upper part of said hollow body and forming a passageway between said collecting space and the interior of said hollow body, said hollow body having a lower part, driving means coupled to said lower part for rotating said hollow body, a movable bottom above the lower part of said hollow body and between the forks of the upper part of said hollow body and adapted to close one end of said container, closing means on which said movable bottom is mounted for movingsaid movable bottom toward and away from the end of said container to close and open one of the 4 mouths thereof, container tilting means on said hollow body and connected to said container for tilting said container on said hollow trunnions, and a housing around said container and hollow body for collecting centrifuged material discharged through the mouths of said container when said container is rotated in the horizontal position with said mouths open.

2. A centrifugal hydroextractor, comprising a substantially cylindrical container having a mouth at opposite ends of the longitudinal axis of said container, said container having an inner perforated wall and an outer jacket spaced from said inner perforated wall and defining between said inner wall and said outer jacket a collecting space, two hollow trunnions on opposite sides of said jacket substantially midway along the. length of said container, a hollow body having a fork-shaped upper part on which said trunnions are rotatably mounted, said trunnions projecting into said upper part of said hollow body and forming a passageway between said collecting space and the interior. of said hollow body, said hollow body having a lower part, a hollow pulley extending downwardly through the center of the bottom of said hollow body and projecting from the bottom of said hollow body and on which said hollow body is mounted, a fixed hollow vertical shaft through the center of said hollow pulley and on which said hollow pulley is rotatably mounted, a supporting base for said hydroextractor on which said fixed vertical shaft is mounted, a vertical column slidably positioned in said fixed hollow shaft, a movable bottom on the upper end of said column for closing a mouth of said container when said container is'in a vertical position, means coupled to the lower end of said column for moving said column up and down, belt drive means connected to said pulley for rotating said pulley and said hollow body, container tilting means on said hollow body and connected to said container for tilting said container on said hollow trunnions, and a housing around said container and hollow body for collecting centrifuged material discharged through the mouths of said container when said container is rotated in the horizontal position with said mouths open. a

3. A centrifugal hydroextractor as claimed in claim 2 in which said means for moving said column up and down comprise a piston and cylinder unit, a control lever pivoted at the center thereof and having one end connected to said piston and cylinder unit, and having the other end connected tothe lower end of said column, and in which said movable bottom is rotatably mounted on the upper end of said column, whereby when said container is in the vertical position with said bottom against said container to close the lower mouth thereof and said container is rotated with said hollow body, said bottom will rotate and said column will remain stationary.

4. A centrifugal hydroextractor as claimed in claim 2 in which said means for tilting said container comprises two tilting units, each comprising a piston and cylinder control unit on said hollow body, a triangular oscillating plate having one apex pivoted to said hollow body, said piston and cylinder unit being pivoted to a second apex of said triangular oscillating plate, and a lever pivoted to the third apex of said triangular oscillating plate and to said jacket of said container, the lever from one of said tilting units being pivoted to said jacket along a plane perpendicular to the longitudinal axis, of saidcontainer and the lever from the other of said tilting units being pivoted to said jacket along .a plane through the longitudinal axis or" said container, whereby one of said tilting units exerts a pushing action and the other exerts a pulling action to tiltthe container from a vertical to a horizontal position, and said one tilting unit exerts a pulling action and said other tilting unit exerts a pushing action to tilt the container from a horizontal to a vertical position.

No references cited. 

1. A CENTRIFUGAL HYDROEXTRACTOR, COMPRISING A CONTAINER HAVING A LONGITUDINAL AXIS AND HAVING A MOUTH AT EACH END OF SAID AXIS, SAID CONTAINER HAVING AN INNER PERFORATED WALL AND AN OUTER JACKET SPACED FROM SAID INNER PERFORATED WALL AND DEFINING BETWEEN SAID INNER WALL AND OUTER JACKET A COLLECTING SPACE, TWO HOLLOW TRUNNIONS ON OPPOSITE SIDES OF SAID OUER JACKET, A HOLLOW BODY HAVING A FORKSHAPED UPPER PART ON WHICH SAID TRUNNIONS ARE ROTATABLY MOUNTED, SAID TRUNNIONS PROJECTING INTO THE SAID UPPER PART OF SAID HOLLOW BODY AND FORMING A PASSAGEWAY BETWEEN SAID COLLECTING SPACE AND THE INTERIOR OF SAID HOLLOW BODY, SAID HOLLOW BODY HAVING A LOWER PART, DRIVING MEANS COUPLED TO SAID LOWER PART FOR ROTATING SAID HOLLOW BODY, A MOVABLE BOTTOM ABOVE THE LOWER PART OF SAID HOLLOW BODY AND BETWEEN THE FORKS OF THE UPPER PART OF SAID HOLLOW BODY AND ADAPTED TO CLOSE ONE END OF SAID CONTAINER, CLOSING MEANS ON WHICH AID MOVABLE BOTTOM IS MOUNTED FOR MOVING SAID MOVABLE BOTTOM TOWARD AND AWAY FROM THE END OF SAID CONTAINER TO CLOSE AND OPEN ONE OF THE MOUTHS THEREOF, CONTAINER TILTING MEANS ON SAID HOLLOW BODY AND CONNECTED TO SAID CONTAINER FOR TILTING SAID CONTAINER ON SAID HOLLOW TRUNNIONS, AND A HOUSING AROUND SAID CONTAINER AND HOLLOW BODY FOR COLLECTING CENTRIFUGED MATERIAL DISCHARGED THROUGH THE MOUTHS OF SAID CONTAINER WHEN SAID CONTAINER IS ROTATED IN THE HORIZONTAL POSITION WITH SAID MOUTHS OPEN. 